Why no (American) animated dramas?

The way I see it, there are 3 main drama types in the US:

1) Soap Opera: Most housewives prefer the mid-afternoon types, with adult characters and lots of treachery.

2) Teen Dramas: Y'know, like Smallville and Dawson's Creek. Teens don't like to watch cartoons (bad for their social status) and prefer to watch real live cute/hunky American teens act in American ways anyhow.

3) Primetime Dramas: Good luck convincing stations to air cartoons during the lucrative primetime slots.

Cinema? Forget it. If it's not family-friendly to take kids along, American adults aren't interested (unless it's a date movie, but that's mostly for teens watching Disney films).
 
Yeah, I've noticed this, and it extends to fandom. At some of the boards I go to a lot of people consider "action" and "comedy" to be the only genres that will ever exist in animation, American or otherwise. If a cartoon's not comedy, then it must, by definition, be action-oriented. And their idea of giving American animation more diversity is to bring in more action cartoons :shrug:
 
The general rule used, which there are exceptions, by American companies concerning entertainment for adult is: 'If you can do something reasonable economical in live action, do it in live action'.

What would a strait drama set in the modern setting (and not in some fantasy, science fiction, alternate past setting) gain from being animated?
I guess you could argue surrealism ,but live-action can get plenty surreal.
Yes, I realize there are animated dramas in Japan but still most dramas are live action, and the ones that aren't are often done by animators who do alot of fantasy, sci-fi, or comedy and want to try something different, or exist previously as manga, or are targeted at specific group of fans.

And just more Americans are used to live action anyway, so most studios and even independents aren't going to make something (as they most likely see it) animated for the sake of being animated.
 
True, mainly because some people see drama's as overly melodramatic and cheezy (which is why I don't watch shows like The OC and Dawson's Creek). And I admit, seeing some teeny-bobber pine away for some boy-band lookalike doesn't exactly attract my attention.

However, drama itself is an important element. And it doesn't necessarily have to be in that "90210" setting, it's an important element in many great movies like "Apocalypse Now" or "The Shawshank Redemption".

But too many cartoons rely solely on comedy or action. It can feel a little empty at times without at least some drama to back it up.
 
Maybe no Americans want to make animated dramas because our culture doesn't take cartoons completely seriously. And true Dramas, as opposed to Action Dramas, need a real element of Seriousness- just try to imagine any of Shakepeare's tragedies without it.

Plus, animation fans might not be interested in a work which has nothing in it that couldn't be done as live-action. Animation is largely about visual effects. Drama tends to eschew that, in favor of plot, characterization and dialogue (see Shakespeare again.) So such a production might have trouble finding an audience.
 
I wouldn't say that animation fans tend not be interested with drama, more that rarely are they offered anything dramatic. Even in anime, the real straight up dramas show up few and far between. Usually, drama is paired with a psychosuspense, action or comedy element, even in an anime (I'll note though that some of my favorite anime are dramas; Haibane, Koi Kaze and Windy Tales are definitely more drama than any other genre.) In the US, any drama that does show up is either a rare addition to a comedic show, or it's a sidenote in an action toon.

I think if some one made a good animated drama in America, animation fans would atleast give it a shot, and a good few would even enjoy it. Certainly Geneon USA seems to count on US animation fans looking for drama, as some of what they've co-funded is the closest to pure drama that any commercial animation (let's ignore non-commericial work like Film Board of Canada shorts,) has ever been. KoiKaze is romantic drama. Haibane Renmei is crisis-of-faith drama. Both wouldn't exist if a US company hadn't put up a large piece of the money for them. As such, there has got to be some market, and someday, it'll be capitalized on by an American-based writing/animation staff.
 
What about shows like AGU!, As Told by Ginger, Braceface, and My Little Pony (the one where they acted like humans). Those are as close to dramas as we've ever gotten.
 
> Let's not forget Invasion America (which was also 1 hour like most dramas) <

That's not a True Drama, though. That's an Action Drama, like B:TAS. America does make a fair number of those.

An example of True Drama would be 'A Man For All Seasons'; all of the (considerable) conflict is in the dialogue. If American animators have ever produced anything like that, I missed it completely.

Mind you, I'm not saying they shouldn't, or that such a effort would be doomed to fail. I'm just noting that (so far as I know) it hasn't been done yet, maybe for the reasons I posted above.
 
No, I wouldn't say drama shows are rare. In fact, they're quite common now that I think about it. The thing about anime is there's usually 80-100 anime airing every week in Japan. And a lot of anime takes place in a school setting. Although yes, many drama shows are paired up with some comedy elements (I'm thinking harem shows right here). But still, there's still quite a few shows like Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien and Maria-sama ga Miteru that are straight-up drama if I ever did see one.
 
What would be the point of an animated 'pure drama'? Why would you laboriously DRAW the characters than be portrayed by real, live actors much more easily and effectively. Effective drama needs nuanced movement and acting ... I don't see a lot of this in animation today, anywhere (though I think the early Disney movies had some great 'acting', and so do a couple of Don Bluth films, but I digress). What you'd end up with might as well just be rotoscoped animation of 'real actors'.

Now if you want to add in a fantasy element to your drama, or have animal characters, surreal imagery or anything out of the norm; then perhaps animation is well-suited. But then your work is not a 'pure drama' now is it?
 
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